NBA Playoff Ratings Down Heading Into Finals

TNT’s Coverage Of Cavaliers-Pistons Game Six Up 23.4% Over Last Year

The NBA Finals begin tonight on ABC, and the net has averaged a 2.9 final Nielsen rating for its ten telecasts of the '07 NBA playoffs through the conference finals, down 23.7% from a 3.8 for the same number of games last year's coverage. Cable Nielsen ratings are also down from a year ago. TNT averaged a 2.7 coverage area rating this postseason for 45 games, down 11.7% for 43 games last season. ESPN's 17 telecasts were down 27.3% from '06 when the network aired 20 games through the conference finals.  A good sign for the NBA Finals is the Cavaliers' Eastern Conference Finals series-clinching Game Six against the Pistons on TNT, which earned a 5.8 coverage area rating (5,495,000 HHs, 7,411,000 viewers) last Saturday, up 23.4% from a 4.7 (4,295,000 HHs, 5,509,000 viewers) for the Mavericks' series-clinching Game Six last season, which also aired on a Saturday night.  Below are ratings to-date for the '07 playoffs, as well as those for  the conference finals. Ratings are Live+Same Day, with all cable ratings being coverage area (THE DAILY).

NBA PLAYOFF RATINGS THROUGH THE CONFERENCE FINALS
	ABC '07	ABC '06	% +/-	TNT '07	TNT '06	% +/-
Cov. Area Rating	2.9	3.8	-23.7%	2.7	3.1	-11.7%
HHs	3,255	4,155	-21.7%	2,544	2,797	-9.0%
Viewers (P2+)	4,229	5,342	-20.8%	3,324	3,594	-7.5%
Telecasts	10	10		43	45
	ESPN '07	ESPN '06	% +/-	ESPN2 '07	ESPN2 '06	% +/-
Cov. Area Rating	2.4	3.3	-27.3%	0.5	0.9	-44.4%
HHs	2,239	2,994	-25.2%	454	845	-46.3%
Viewers (P2+)	2,843	3,882	-26.8%	470	1,073	-56.2%
Telecasts	17	20		1	2

NBA CONFERENCE FINALS
	ABC '07	ABC '06	% +/-	TNT '07	TNT '06	% +/-	ESPN '07	ESPN '06	% +/-
Cov. Ar. Rating	3.1	5.5	-43.6%	4.1	4.6	-10.9%	3.2	4.8	-33.3%
HHs	3,450	6,074	-43.2%	3,857	4,158	-7.2%	2,984	4,352	-31.4%
Viewers (P2+)	4,550	8,190	-44.4%	5,029	5,509	-8.7%	4,007	5,797	-30.9%
Telecasts	2	1		6	6		3	5

 

 

GOOD WEEK: TNT swept primetime among ad-supported cable for the week ended June 3 and pulled ad-supported cable’s best numbers for the year among adults 18-34 (787,000, tied with TNT’s week of 4/30); adults 18-49 (1,611,000); adults 25-54 (1,567,000); total viewers (3,282,000); and HHs (2,503,000). TNT’s coverage of Pistons-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals Game Six on Saturday was ad-supported cable’s top program year-to-date in adults 18-49 (3,697,000); adults 25-54 (3,500,000); total viewers (6,914,000); and HHs (5,132,000). It also ranked as the top program of the week in adults 18-34 (1,905,000).  Saturday's game topped all programming on broadcast and cable among adults 18-34, adults 18-49, adults 25-54, HHs and total viewers (TNT).

128 TV broadcasters will provide coverage Of Cavaliers-Spurs NBA Finals

TIP-OFF: Cavaliers-Spurs NBA Finals Game One tips off tonight with a record 128 TV broadcasters providing coverage to 205 countries and territories in 46 different languages. The number of broadcasters tops last year’s record of 112 (NBA). The games will be presented in the U.S. across 15 ABC and ESPN platforms (ESPN). FSN Ohio is “expanding coverage” of the Finals, airing a pregame show before every game and on off nights at 8:00pm CT. Home and road shows will originate from Quicken Loans Arena (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 6/5). On Monday night, the YES Network will re-air its telecast of the February 8, 2003, game in which James scored a high school career high 52 points as his St. Vincent-St. Mary High School team (Akron, Ohio) beat Westchester High School of L.A. (YES).